“I understand why Americans who flip on C-Span and watch this proceeding are skeptical about the prospect of improvement,” said Wyden, who has repeatedly said that he hopes to use the extenders legislation as a jumping-off point for broader tax reform.

“There have been loads of promises in the past of tax reform,” the Oregon Democrat added. “When I joined the Finance Committee nearly a decade ago, I couldn’t possibly have imagined chairing Congress’ fifteenth time renewing the stop-and-go tax cuts called ‘extenders.’”

With Thursday’s vote, the committee decided to extend the vast majority of the more than 50 temporary tax breaks that expired at the end of 2013, with just a handful not getting revived. The tax breaks that did make it into the package would be extended through 2015.

The credit for research and development was the most expensive of the tax breaks to get extended, while provisions that allow corporations to defer taxes on offshore financial services income and incentives that allow businesses to quickly write off investments were given new life as well.

Just on Thursday, Wyden also added to the original package he crafted Hatch, inserting extensions of a production tax credit for the wind industry and tax breaks for NASCAR track owners and filmmakers.

Other very narrowly tailored incentives – including for Puerto Rican rum producers and the thoroughbred industry – were extended, too.

Wyden didn’t allow votes on the most controversial of the more than 90 amendments offered to the extenders legislation, including proposals to delay new IRS rules for tax-exempt groups and taxes tucked into ObamaCare.

But that didn’t stop Republicans from trying.

For instance, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) pushed for a vote to delay the medical device tax, one of the revenue provisions in the healthcare law that has bipartisan opposition – and something that Hatch called an “ungodly, terrible, stupid, dumbass tax” on Thursday.

At the end of Thursday’s hearing, Wyden brushed aside concerns that the committee’s inability to pare down the extenders package was a bad sign for tax reform, where lawmakers have to be willing to give up tax breaks in order to lower rates.